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Courtesy of the Miltimores
Jim and Carol Miltimore on the shore of Hidden Lake in 2006 in Mount Rainier National Park.
When Jim and Carol Miltimore approached officials at Mount Rainier National Park about volunteering, they thought the retired couple might spend a sunny afternoon bagging trash.
They had no idea that six years later, the Enumclaw, Wash., couple would log more hours in the pristine park than many native bears.
In six years, Jim, 70, and Carol, 63, have logged more than 12,000 volunteer hours making the 378-square mile park cleaner, more accessible and ever-luscious.
“They are this sweet couple who upon retiring they didn’t want to golf, they wanted to give back to something they really believe in and that’s the national park system,” says Kevin Bacher, volunteer program coordinator for the National Park Service. “They’ll dig ditches, clean restrooms, clear trails and spend hours working in the park library system. There’s nothing they won’t do.”
Imagine the impact on the national deficit if every able-bodied man and women in America contributed on behalf of the federal government the way the Miltimores do for free.
And they consider it their privilege.
“We’re avid hikers and nature lovers and, really, I think we get more out of it than the park does,” says Carol, a retired data analyst. “The scenery is breathtaking. Just yesterday I was up working in a field of wildflowers at 6,400 feet with Mount Rainier in its full glory. It was magnificent.”
Those opportunities abound in our national parks, an institution referred to in a recent Ken Burns PBS documentary as “America’s Best Idea.”
Go to www.nps.gov/volunteer and scroll through the options that let would-be volunteers across the nation select where they want to work, how often they’re available and what level of exertion they’re prepared to dispense.
“We’re friends with a volunteer who saved the park service $500,000 by designing them a bridge,” says Jim, a retired chemist. “People volunteer video services, labor — you name it.”
Acting park superintendent Randy King says park volunteers enjoy a spiritual connection to the land that borders on the mystical.
“It’s just a great way for people to give back,” King says. “Volunteers form a deep connection to the land.”
The Miltimores spend as many as six days and nights a week at the park, sometimes sleeping in cabins they helped construct.
Such devotion is not without sacrifice.
“We can’t have pets and our garden is on its own,” Carol says. “But here at the park we get to see plenty of ground squirrels, marmots, mountain goats and bears. Just last week a big bear charged Jim.”
Jim says it was just a “bluff charge,” something a bear does half-heartedly to try and make itself look superior.
“He wasn’t serious,” he says. “If he was, I’d have been lunch.”
Or maybe the bear simply sensed that the Miltimores are part of Mount Rainier National Park.
More on Overhead Bin
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- Hot as Hell? Stay Cool in these destinations
Chris Rodell is a Latrobe, Pa., contributor who blogs at www.EightDaysToAmish.com.
Leave a Comment:
Now THIS is what American should be about.
The Miltimores serve as a model for the baby boomers who are getting ready to retire. They've offered so much to the Park Service and to us in their own service to the community. Instead of having a brain drain from the companies we work for, the Miltimores have shown us how to just put that brain power to other uses that help keep our park systems beautiful and alive. If all the baby boomer volunteers (as well as other volunteers) quit what they were doing for various non-profits and agencies across the United States, we would never be able to recoup the losses of that particular brain drain Thanks, Carol and JIm!
The National parks really are America's Best Idea. Hats off to the Miltimores and thousands of others who volunteer.
Awesome couple, story, and National Park -- a mere two hours drive from my home. Did not know until now that my family and I have greatly benefited from their generosity.
Wow. A positive news story! I want more. America needs more. I am getting tired of the constant focus on negative topics.
I want my President to ask the news media for more.
I really don't need to hear every day how some mother killed her son or son killed her mother or politician was a disappointment.
Does anybody else out there feel the same way?
These people are not doing anything new. Thousands of retirees have been doing this for years. They are called Workampers --people like us who live out of their RV's and travel the country working all kinds of jobs at various parks and campgrounds throughout the country. Some volunteer (as with the NPS) or trade working for their sites and utilities. Some are paid a modest stipend. But all are having the time of their lives living their retirements in fulfilling and meaningful ways.
12,000 hours in 6 years is equivilent to full time. Awsome.
I was privileged to be part of making a short film, made at no cost to teh NPS, about the efforts of volunteers at Mount Rainier following severe natural disasters there in 2006. Carol and Jim were two of the volunteers we interviewed. The Mount Rainier web site now shows this film in the "Support your park" section, scroll down to see it.
The thing that struck me about the depth of volunteering there was a point in the film made by the volunteer manager, Kevin Bacher. It was that the basics suchg as renewing trails and vegetation restoration get covered and then alkows more diverse and varied skills and participation by volunteers to be applied. This is mutually beneficial to both the parks and the volunteers themselves, and certainly makes the volunteers want to continue contributing. A critical mass of volunteers moves the work being done into a much broader spectrum of activities. Hats off to the park management for seeing this, and for actively working with other groups to encourage more of it.
This is a really great story, I wish more people would dedicate some time and effort like this, think how much would be done! This article makes me want to head to the site and sign up for some more volunteer work. A volunteer vacation would be a great way to give back and see some beauty.